Saints Coach Sean Payton was fined $15,000 for criticizing the officiating in last week's loss to the Denver Broncos, a league source confirmed Saturday.

Payton said in a Monday news conference that Broncos linebacker Jamie Winborn was lined up in the neutral zone when the ball was snapped on a Saints fourth-quarter third-and-1 play in the 34-32 loss to Denver. There was no penalty called, and Saints running back Pierre Thomas could not pick up a yard.

On the next play, kicker Martin Gramatica missed a go-ahead field goal with less than two minutes remaining.

"That's a hard pill for me to swallow on a critical play like that," Payton said Monday. "Now, it had no bearing on the outcome of the play in regards to the result, but when something like that happens, it's not a judgment call. It's clearly a call that's right in front of you as a line judge, and you make it or you don't make it.

"Usually when it's close, the play goes on, but my problem was, it wasn't close. My problem was that this player not only was in the neutral zone, but his whole head is across the line of scrimmage and past the ball before the ball is ever snapped, and no call was made."